Sharia Fuckwit went on to say:
“But that’s exactly what we’re doing, and if she doesn’t obey we’ll kill her. So I guess, It’s entirely to restrict her freedom. Huh, I guess I’m a lying sack of camelshit.”

Or because we are immature boys who can’t keep it in our pants or put a check on our more base urges when we see OMG a nekkid ankle we will just blame it all on the women and make them wear completely covering clothing in a HOT DESERT. Cause ummm uppity wimmens?, religion? taking my power away? precious bodily fluids?

How would they be able to tell they’re men? It’s not like ISIS and sharia dickweeds have even slight respect for women, so as soon as they see the hijab, why would they listen to what that person has to say? I mean as long as they’re enforcing the however many camel-lengths rule for women being required to stay out of an islamic man’s “I can’t stop myself from raping” radius.

It occurs to me that if these knuckleheads think the merest glimpse of a woman will overwhelm their primal nature, the best course of action might be desensitization therapy. Namely, a nice healthy dose of good ol’ infidel porn.

You know, I’ve read many snarky comments and a few articles that indicate the hijab is the zenith of oppression. But just once I read an article by a woman who wears one daily to her university classes. She reported feeling it was liberating because instead of staring at her boobs, it forced the men to listen to her words.

Except it doesn’t. They’re still staring at her, thinking about her, and interrupting her when she speaks. She just doesn’t know which body part they’re fantasizing about. That’s not much of an improvement.

No, I’ve read similar articles, and I believe the women who say these things truly think so. But look at the underlying problem: it’s still about what does a woman have to do to be able to walk down the street, learn in a classroom, etc. You’re not really free or equal simply because you’ve accepted the arguments of one set of fashion police over another.

You know, I’ve read many snarky comments and a few articles that indicate the hijab is the zenith of oppression.

It isn’t. It’s hyperbole that is entirely a function of visibility. You can see it, ergo it must be the most important thing. Islamic State douchefuckingtasticness notwithstanding, I find the Western fascination with it to be weirdly unhealthy. It’s become symbolic, but in itself whether a woman covers her hair is less of an issue than say, whether she gets to make her own healthcare decisions, or get an education, or a job. With the exception of the Islamic State, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, most countries in the Middle East are much more relaxed on this issue. There’s a nice healthy heaping helping of social pressure in a lot of cases. Still, the way this dynamic is often described in Western media, almost to the exclusion of all other dynamics that affect women, and with a certain shallowness, is oddly unsettling.

Especially because it is so often posed as a dichotomy, or a catastrophic evil. Google “should the hijab be banned” to get an idea of this. I think a lot of Muslim women, regardless of their personal feelings on the subject, are rightly suspicious of people who are more than happy to hop into comment threads and think up excuses for why hijab wearers shouldn’t go to school, for instance. Or for that matter, just plain old kids who aren’t showing enough skin. Suddenly, well-meaning Western “concerns” about the hijab seem a lot less well-meaning.

So zenith of oppression? No. A battlefield? Yes. A battlefield where reactionaries have lost the moral high ground? Absolutely and for a long time now, I just think it hasn’t sunk in yet.

I spent a few weeks working in Oman in 2012, and some (if not many or most) women wore a very distinct fragrance. I was later told that it’s the same fragrance that caretakers in Mecca put on the Kabaa’s coverings. So it’s difficult to imagine banning fragrances, or that particular fragrance, but I suppose anything’s possible when someone who’s insane and/or doesn’t know what he’s doing is in charge.

Granted, Oman (or at least, those in power) are Ibadi Muslims, not Sunni, though it’s still a very strict place: women can drive cars and hold jobs, though I believe in practice the latter is greater in civil service than in businesses. But a woman can’t leave the country without permission from a male relative. Evidently women there don’t have to wear a hijab and abaya, but based on my observation all the Omani women wore them (a minority wore a niqab). I suspect it sets them apart as natives, distinguishing themselves from expatriate women who either wear a different covering (e.g. in some color other than black) or who come from places where they aren’t worn at all. (EDIT: Similarly, local men stuck to wearing thawbs, and either a cap or turban, and these have attributes that are distinctly Omani.) Also, I spent all my time there in Muscat, so it may be different elsewhere in the country.

That fragrance stuck with me as much as anything else from my visit. I have to say that, eventually, smelling it every day where I was working became pretty frustrating, because I was away from my wife for several weeks (I brought a small vial home with me). So maybe the IS-types think it’s too enticing, but what an insane way of dealing with temptations.

It’s kind of funny. Our “fascination” with it isn’t that it’s symbolic, it’s an actual representation of what women must comply with in Islamic states or face dire consquences. It’s the most obvious example of oppression, and points to the rest.

It’s not that it’s seen as an evil, so much as that women are chattel (property). Call me reactionary if you like, but yeah… equal rights, gender equality or at least not being treated by property by men who often stand by ideas like child brides (pedophilia), stoning, executing homosexuals and generally treating half of their population as slaves.